It was party time at Southwest Airlines’ new Denver International Airport Concourse C gates Tuesday, but for other airlines and the company’s competitors, it was business as usual.
While Southwest employees blew party horns and cheered and a band played swing tunes, flights for Delta, Northwest and the other airlines on the concourse arrived and departed without notice.
“It is a lot of hoopla,” said Patti Franzen, a Midwest Airlines service representative. “I don’t have any feeling about it at all.”
Passengers who arrived on Southwest’s first Denver flight from Chicago found a buffet table set up with a small, portable fountain that pumped out nonalcoholic champagne. The spread included Grand Marnier French toast coffee and scones.
Blue-shirted Southwest employees alternated between unrelenting cheer and evangelical zeal as they handed out such party favors as lint rollers, ice scrapers and inflatable airplanes.
Earlier Tuesday, Southwest launched outbound service from Denver with flights to Chicago and Las Vegas.
Laura Runge, 47, flew here for the kickoff flights with other Southwest employees and was heading back to Dallas later in the morning.
“We have been so excited about coming to Denver,” she said.
American Airlines pilot Ted Smith called Southwest “a thorn in our side that will never kill us but is an ongoing little pain.” He said the competition is nothing new to his employer but could put pressure on United’s struggling Ted service.
“I think (Southwest) is testing the market,” he said.
On Concourse A, signs at Ted gates proclaimed, “Ted is glad to see you.”
Passenger Jeff Cline, who was booked on a Ted flight to Phoenix, may be equally glad to see Southwest.
“They are on time, and there are very few delays,” he said.
Cline, 50, looks at two things when deciding which airline to take: “price and schedule.” He said he would consider Southwest for future trips to Denver.
Satish Vegesna, 30, thought it was worth the price of a $60 ticket to check out the airline. The Broomfield software engineer was traveling to Las Vegas on Tuesday with his wife, Sirisha, 25, for a three-day vacation.
“We will see how the service is, because this is new to people,” he said.
The couple were scheduled to leave on the first plane to Las Vegas but missed the flight and took a later Southwest plane.
“We missed a couple of hours of gambling,” he said.
Staff writer Tom McGhee can be reached at 303-820-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com.
